The UOC said that preparations are underway to seize the Holy Ascension Church in Kyiv

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church says that preparations are underway for the seizure of the Holy Ascension Church in Kyiv, the church where Lesya Ukrainka was married.

This was written on Telegram by UOC lawyer Mykyta Chekman.

According to him, on March 31 the “leadership of the religious organization was unlawfully changed” — from Archpriest Pavlo Kyrylov to Taras Ivanovych Pikus, who is a student at the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy and is not ordained.

“It is important to emphasize that the parish charter was not changed, the name of the religious organization remained the same, as did its confessional affiliation with the UOC. This indicates that there were no lawful grounds for such a ‘change of leadership.’ Under these circumstances, there are every reason to believe that knowingly forged documents may have been used to carry out the registration actions, liability for which is предусмотрена by Article 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” Chekman wrote.

He said he is appealing to law enforcement authorities.

“At the moment, an appeal to law enforcement is being prepared with a statement about the commission of a criminal offense, and a procedure is under way to obtain documents from the registration file from the state registrar,” the lawyer said.

It is worth recalling that after the death of Patriarch Filaret, the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC announced the election of a new head — Metropolitan Nykydym of Sumy — who accused the Orthodox Church of Ukraine of abducting Filaret’s body.